Top 10 Ex Conspiracy Theorists (UPDATED)

These are the top 10 former conspiracy theorists that I came across that either moved away from believing in a certain conspiracy theory or completely abandoned their world view of conspiracism. Now these aren't the only ones nor are they an official list. These are just the most fascinating stories I've come across thus far of people with stories similar to mine and that of others.





10. President Donald Trump-  As many of you know Donald Trump has pushed numerous conspiracy theories both before and after he became president. You may be wondering why he's on this list. Well, it's because he threw away one conspiracy theory in the trash forever, at least for now. And that is, Birtherism.  It's the conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in the United States and was therefore ineligible to be President of United States. Since 2011, Trump has pushed numerous false debunked claims about Obama's birth. He's suggested the birth certificate says he's a Muslim, that all the government officials are lying, that the birth certificate is fake, and the list goes on.  It wasn't until 2016 on the campaign trail that Trump conceded without explanation the truth. "President Obama was born in the United States. PERIOD." Whether he pushed he conspiracy theory because he was just being a gullible buffoon or just being spiteful to President Obama we may never know.

9. Mosad Hassan Yousef-  Yousef is a former double agent for Israel working with them against the terrorist organization Hamas. Being the son of an active Hamas leader at the time, he was recruited by Israeli intelligence to thwart terrorist plots.  Being raised in a Hamas family he believed Israel and the West were working day and night to rid the world of Islam. That persecution complex mentality as well as being part of an organization that believes in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion hoax, and the immediate genocide of Jews is a deadly combination. Since Yousef came out publicly about what he was doing he's had a target on his back ever since from multiple terrorist organizations. The story hasn't been told better than the documentary film The Green Prince, which I highly recommend if you want to get his narration about the events of his espionage career.

8. Mike Metzger-  Around 2008 was when the 9/11 Truth Movement officially started to collapse as more intelligent people were leaving it. Metzger was one of them. He was a 9/11 truth president of a local Albany chapter and a  9/11 truther activist for about a year.  He's not very well known anymore because he abandoned his views in 2008 and never looked back since.  His views were changed by watching a documentary called Screw Loose Change.  Realizing he had been duped by claims of the towers collapsing in a controlled demolition by the US government, he posted an angry resignation letter on the Internet which has been deleted but has been recovered by yours truly. While many 9/11 truth leaders he says are being duped by misinformation, others are in it for the money. And that he says make him sick to his stomach especially with a tragedy. 

7. Cult of Dusty- YouTuber Cult of Dusty has quite the horrific experience with Alex Jones.  For years he thought the world was going to end so he bought farm land and farm animals in order to be self-sustaining.  He became a full-time survivalist. After years of hard labor of dealing with farm animals and getting up every morning to make sure everything is taken care of, he thought to himself if all of this was worth it.  After examining many claims he heard and believed from Alex Jones, his assessment was that it wasn't worth it. That was because all of it was complete baloney. Since starting his YouTube channel he has been quite successful in the skeptic community talking about religion, conspiracy theories, and of course Alex Jones. 

 

6.  Edward Current-  Skeptic and comedian Edward Current was a 9/11 truther for a short time.  His story is pretty straightforward and to the point. He reconsidered his views by asking simple common sense questions. Like if the World Trade Center buildings came down in a controlled demolition how did the bomb is not detonate from uncontrollable building fires. Or how were the bombs planted with nobody noticing?  He's posted about 9/11 conspiracy theories many times. Most notoriously he made a hoax video of World Trade Center 7's  collapse.  Using special-effects from video editing software he made it look like they were flashes in the building as there are from a controlled demolition along with explosive sound effects.  This was to demonstrate how gullible people can be from videos they see on the Internet.

5.  Charles Veitch-  Anarchist and one of Great Britain's most influential 9/11 truthers. Then like the other former truther in this list he changed his mind. This was shortly after being interviewed in a documentary about conspiracy theories and people who believe them. But what makes this story so unique is the sheer volume of harassment, death threats, and backlash he got for coming out on YouTube about changing his mind.  Other 9/11 Truth leaders leaders launched a smear campaign.  The most disturbing one was a false claim that he had came out publicly as a paedophile, a claim his mother thought to be true because she was emailed the false claim over and over again probably about 15,000 times. That BBC documentary that he appeared in is called Conspiracy Road Trip and is a must see.

4. Glenn Beck-  Another surprising addition to the list. I recently wrote about his change of format which showed he's completely abandoned his brand of conspiracy theories.  After walking away from conspiracy theories including the North American Union, FEMA concentration camps, and the Boston Marathon bombing which led to a lawsuit against him, it really is clear he has changed his format in his media empire. Now he's just your good old fashion conservative with some 

libertarianism mixed in.

3. Peter Joseph- founder of the Zeitgeist movement. He first gained fame after his first film called Zeitgeist. Throughout the whole film  it makes three conspiratorial claims.  He claims that Christianity was a deliberate hoax, that 9/11 was an inside job, and that a one world government is imminent.  The problem with the film is that almost all of the claims in the film are out right made up. Some of which the film itself is the original source of the claims. This is no exaggeration. Edward Winston demonstrates this through in his thorough debunking of the whole film as well as academics who have examined the film. The film was made in 2007 and only two years after in 2009, Peter Joseph mentioned that he had moved away from 9/11 conspiracy theories. But that was it. Today he's still engaged with his philosophical advocacy using unethical propaganda with other conspiratorial claims. 

2. Keith Johnson  Johnson has gotten very little attention unlike other former Alex Jones employees. Unlike some of the other employees, Johnson has abandoned his conspiratorial worldview.  This was after Sandy Hook massacre conspiracy theories.  That was a bridge too far for him. He has posted several videos debunking these conspiracy theories as well as explaining why people like him believe in them. Because they want to believe. 

1. Dylan Avery- pretty much the founder of the 9/11 truth movement or least the guy who made it  famous.  Sorry Alex Jones. His movie Loose Change was the most popular documentary on the Internet.  So what made him change? It was a slow process. Avery would revise his theories as to what happened.  He would change from saying the government made it happen to say they let it happen. When Avery completely abandoned his views he came to the realization that something he originally intended to be fiction got him wrapped up and believing it. He now believes the US government is incapable of pulling off such a plot.

(CORRECTION Dylan Avery is still a 9/11 truther)

Are you an ex conspiracy theorist? What other famous ex conspiracy theorists are there? Tell me your story or the story of others in the comments below.